The rate at which children in America fail to achieve proficient reading skills is quite troubling. For children who live in poverty or who belong to underrepresented minorities, the failure rate can reach close to 60%. Although multiple factors can affect children's literacy development (including home, parenting, parent educational levels, preschool, community resources, as well as formal schooling), classroom instruction is one of the most important sources of influence. One reason children fail to achieve proficient reading skills is because they do not receive appropriate amounts of particular types of literacy instruction during the primary grades. Early literacy instruction that is balanced between phonics (or code-based) and more meaning-based reading experiences has been shown to be more effective than instruction that focuses on one to the exclusion of the other. Striking the right balance between these two types for each individual student has, however, been a challenge for most teachers. Thus, there is a need in the education field to create a new and useful method for recommending a teaching plan. This invention provides such a new and useful method.